Speying on Monday - have a question please

Zena is being speyed on Monday plus I'm getting her hernia fixed, and I've just been on a brilliant vet's website explaining everything, so I've frightened myself to death already! Anyways, he says, he recommends keeping them in overnight, not because he wants our money, but because he wants to make sure they are kept quiet during the critical stage, i.e. the clotting process, because he says although this is a relatively safe operation, that's only because they do it on such a regular basis, but actually it is a very serious operation because they have to go so deep inside the intestinal cavity to get to the womb etc.

Now I'm wondering whether I should in fact, ask them to keep her in overnight? She's such a loonatic when her dad appears, and although she'll be half out of it when we pick her up the same day, she'll still go nuts when she see's him let alone both of us together, so maybe it would be better for them to keep her? I'm going to ask the vet anyway when I see him first thing Monday prior to her op, but I just thought I'd get some input from you guys, i.e. the pro's and con's??? Oh dear, I'm already a nervous wreck and it's only Friday!!!!

i just booked werm in for a week today and i am already fretting?!
how old is zena- i spoke to the nurse at the vets and she said werm would be fime at 7.5 months but have just read things on here that say its too young- now i am really fretting!!!

maybe overnight stay would be best for zena as she is big and bouncy is she not?

Lol, I just saw your own thread and went in there!!!

Well, from what I've read, and I found a brilliant site written by a vet, with pictures of the op and everything and he reckons 6 months is GOOD, whereas Zena is 12 months and some, but I waited until right in the middle of the first and 2nd seasons coz I thought that was the safest? I don't think you have any worries at that age, and I'm sure I don't at Zena's age because of the season thing. I know vets recommend/state that mid-way between seasons is ideal, so what about your puppy, will she be mid-way? You can't do it too near you see, because of the hormones (I think!!!)

hugs to you helen. there's no point in saying try not to worry cos i know you will!

i think i would let her stay overnight. she will no doubt sleep for most of it and there would be no exciting things happening there whether it be you and dave arriving, or seeing georgie again.

Thanks Claire. I was thinking I would, but then I got to thinking, if she see's us both the next morning to pick her up, the aneasthetic will have worn off, so she can go even MORE nuts with the chance of opening up those stitches! Oh what a dilema I really don't know what to do for the best!! Knowing me, I'll probably ask them to keep her in for a week or more!!! Lol! Thanks mate.xxxx

My vet insists on keeping bitches in overnight after a spay too as it's a more invasive procedure than castration and any complications are most likely to occur within the first 12 hours or so.

Hi Helena the lovely vet I have now insists on keeping bitches in overnight after spaying (in spite of my protestations) . The reason she does this is because she gives a cocktail of drugs including Ketamine to insure the bitch is kept pain free and in most instances has no recollection of the operation.
Keeping the bitch in enables the staff to carefully monitor her and to keep her pain free and immobile immediately following the operation .

I have to say the results are excellent, unlike previous spayings Chloe was returned to me with a minute scar and it would seen no awareness of the operation, you would have though I had only left her a short time before.

When I got Chloe home I was worried about her jumping around , this gave me a good excuse to sit on the floor with her and to watch a DVD we had a great day and she slept all night in the sitting room with me on the sofa. After that it was back to normal except no jumping up or off lead racing about for a couple of weeks.

I am always worried about operations but was extra apprehensive when having Chloe done having recently lost my lovely puppy Millie shortly after she was spayed at 9 months when we discovered she had a quickly progressing terminal kidney disease.

I needen't have worried, Chloe was fine, modern anesthetics are fantatstic and spaying must be the operation vets carry out the most so they get lots of practice.

Find a big job to do while Zena has her operation (I clean the cooker at times like these) and the time will pass quickly, oh and find a good DVD for the day she returns

well i have taken great comfort from this post for when lilypig is spayed.

not so sure about the oven cleaning though!

Oh thanks for that Mini, and I'm so sorry about your previous puppy, I missed that if you did post up on here that is, so, so sorry, very sad.

Anyways, my mind is now made up then, she's staying in!!! If they'll have her of course, but I'm sure they will, it's an animal hospital, they have staff there all night, so there shouldn't be a problem, and I really think it's for the best. Thanks Shaynlola and Claire too, much appreciated

Helena - This is just what happened with us (As you know our two were done almost three years ago, they were nearly two y.o. at the time)

They did not stay overnight, the vet didn't suggest it and I think OH would not have agreed to it anyway.

When we got them home they were still under the anesethic, slowly they came around but even Rianna (who is the affectionate one) didn't try anything loony like waging tail or trying to run around, both were subdued the first day and night.

The vet did warn us to keep them calm and quiet and to keep checking on the stitches. To help with protecting the stitches the vet suggested a kind of pullover for the bottom part of the tummy which OH made out of some old clothes. Both Bara and Rianna wore this with no problems and even when we started gentle walks, somewhere I've got a picture of Bara in the forrest with this 'thing' around her

From memory I think it was 3 weeks before the stitches were removed, over here I was told they use very strong material for the sutres (Is that the right word)

Personally I think if Dave is calm and quiet around her she will OK but only you can make the decision, I'm sure your vets are honourable people but she will have to come home the next day and the stitches will still be fresh and must not be stretched or the wound could open for at leat a week or two so what will one night do

OH made all the decisions (Except about the best time to have it done which she didn't actually do but that's another story ) She felt it was essential for both Bara and Rianna to have someone they knew and trusted when they came round from the anesthetic.

Good luck on Monday, I'm back in hospital that day too

ETA:-
Just saw that in your case it's an animal hospital where Zena is going with staff on duty all night, that is quite important 'cos it means she'll be monitored through the night.

In our case it was just the normal vet type practice and if they had stayed overnight they wouldv'e been in kennels and no one to stroke them and re-assure them when they came round. I think that was probably why OH decided to bring them home the same day.